It could survive Jake and Elwood, but not the new economy and changing tastes:
Harvey's abandoned Dixie Square Mall, made famous by a spectacular police chase in the 1980 film "The Blues Brothers," has a new developer hoping to bring thousands of jobs and pump millions of dollars into the shuttered shopping center and surrounding area.
Preliminary plans for the 35-acre site, at 153rd Street and Dixie Highway, as well as surrounding blocks, call for big-box and smaller retail stores and housing over a minimum of five years, said Thomas Planera, chief counsel for Chicago-based developer MG Development South LLC. (Read the rest at: “Blues Brothers” mall in Harvey may get face-lift - chicagotribune.com)
The traditional enclosed mall, epitomized in our area by Southridge Mall in Greendale (above; parking lot delineated in yellow), is losing its allure. Indeed, Southridge itself is looking at the first stage of what could be a re-invention of the property as they consider senior housing in a section of its ocean-sized parking lot.
Frankly, either they work quickly to make the retail space there something more akin to the outdoor, faux-downtown Bayshore, or get used to feigning excitement over glow-in-the-dark mini-golf.
Recently announced is an attempt by giant mall operator Simon Properties Growth, Inc. to buy out the troubled General Growth Properties, owner of Mayfair mall. Two giant malls; one owner -- sounds like a reason for possible tenants to look even closer at Bayshore. From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
The acquisition could raise regulatory flags, with national retailers such as Gap and Limited protesting that putting so many malls under a single owner would hand Simon too much lease-negotiating clout, Stifel Nicolaus analyst David M. Fick said in a research note.
"National tenants tell us that (Simon) already squeezes them more than other landlords, and now they may be faced with doing over 40% of their business at (Simon) properties," Fick wrote.
Or, in markets with a choice, national retailers may simply go with more innovative, downtown-esque retail environments.
It's the long fall of the traditional mall ....
See also: NEWSWEEK - Is the Mall Dead?
see also: Midtown plaza (the first urban indoor shopping mall)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midtown_Plaza_(Rochester)
Posted by: Bo | February 18, 2010 at 02:04 PM